The Braille Alphabet – PharmaBraille 5 6 36 Braille Alphabet, Numbers and Symbols Codes Each country has its own braille code and there are some common codes, such as the Unified English Braille (EBU) Code and the EBU European Braille Code . There are many common elements in each country code, but certain important differences. The various braille alphabets, braille numbers, braille punctuation, special symbols and code tables can be found in braille codes . How to represent braille Braille characters are three dimensional tactile bumps on a medium such as paper or board. In order for these bumps to be represented, viewed, checked and controlled on digital artwork the designer places appropriately sized and spaced filled circles on the artwork layout. The circles can be constructed from a simple grid of dots, but the most efficient method of creating braille print artwork is with a braille font . Nationally different special braille alphabet characters in Europe It must be stressed that punctuation, abbreviated characters and accented characters vary from country to country. In the artwork creation process, the braille character set to be used should be verified as appropriate for the country in which the medicinal product is sold.

The Marketing Authorisation Holder (MAH) and packaging supplier must check all braille artwork for current accuracy and relevance. The European Braille Guidance area of this website, supported by RNIB and EBU, contains information on European Braille and the braille code pages contain many country specific braille codes . The International Blindness Agencies Directory can help to identify braille organisations for each country. If multi-market, multilingual packs are being produced with braille text, the correct character sets should be identified and included in the artwork. Note:While every care has been taken to check the accuracy of the symbols used in each language, we cannot guarantee the accuracy of this information. Please confirm braille character sets with the relevant local braille authority. The International Blindness Agencies Directory can help to identify braille organisations for each country. Pharma Braille ...Braille: Deciphering the Code... ...Braille: Deciphering the Code... People often think that braille is a language. Actually there is a braille code for every foreign language you can imagine including French, Spanish, Chinese, Arabic, and Hebrew. There are also braille codes for mathematics , music , and computers.

The Braille Cell The braille characters make up the letters of the alphabet, punctuation marks, numbers, and everything else you can write in print. The letter "a" is written with only dot 1. The letter "d" has dots 1, 4, and 5. The letter "y" has dots 1, 3, 4, 5, and 6. When all six dots are used, the character is called a "full cell." And when no dots are used it's an "empty cell!" The picture below shows you how the dots are arranged in the braille cell for each letter of the alphabet. Do you see a pattern between the lines of the alphabet? Why do you think the "w" is not part of the pattern? Click here to find out if you're right . a y z See if you can find the letters in your name and tell the dot numbers for each one. Capitalizing in Braille Braille does not have a separate alphabet of capital letters as there is in print. Capital letters are indicated by placing a dot 6 in front of the letter to be capitalized. Two capital signs mean the whole word is capitalized.

One Letter Capitalized A Braille Punctuation A "period" is written with dots 2, 5, and 6. (Do you see how it is the same shape as the letter "d," only lower in the cell?) There are other characters for each mark of punctuation such as dots 2, 3, and 5 for an exclamation point. (Do you see that it is the same shape as the letter "f," only lower in the cell? Like the previous example, which is called a "dropped d," this is called a "dropped f"). Braille Numbers Braille numbers are made using the first ten letters of the alphabet, "a" through "j", and a special number sign, dots 3, 4, 5, and 6. # 9 0 Larger numbers only need one number sign. The comma in braille is dot 2, and is used in numbers and with words, too. 3 8 7 The braille code is used for words and for numbers in sentences or page numbers, but when students take math class they learn a different code called the Nemeth code.

Expanding the Code Now that you understand how dots are arranged in the braille cell to make the letters of the alphabet and numbers, you're ready to learn more about the code. Braille uses special characters called contractions to make words shorter. We use contractions like "don't" as a short way of writing two words, such as "do" and "not." In braille there are many additional contractions, 189 in all! Using these contractions saves space, which is very important because braille books are much larger and longer than print books. Some contractions stand for a whole word. For example, when the full cell is used as a contraction, it means "for." Dots 1, 2, 3, 4 and 6 make up the word "and" and dots 2, 3, 4, and 6 make up the word "the." for = and = the = Other contractions stand for a group of letters within a word.

In the example below, you see the contraction "ing" (dots 3, 4, 6) in the word "sing" and as an ending in the word "playing." Likewise, you see the contraction "ed" (dots 1, 2, 4, 6) in the word "edge" and as an ending in the word "played." ing d If you guessed "could," "above," "quick," and "said," you're right! You might think that because short-form words are so easy to spell that children who write braille get a break on their spelling tests. Actually, braille readers also learn regular spelling for typing on a computer. Let's see what kind of difference contractions make in braille. Look at the same phrase, you like him, in uncontracted braille (sometimes called "grade 1 braille") and contracted braille (sometimes called "grade 2 braille"). What do you notice about the length of the two phrases? Uncontracted Braille: Contracted Braille: Did you notice that the length of the contracted braille phrase is shorter than the uncontracted braille phrase? If you thought there were three contractions, you're right!

The word "you" is written with the letter "y" standing alone. The word "like" is written with the letter "l" standing alone, and the word "him" is one of those short-form words written "hm." Other Braille Codes The braille code used for writing regular text in books, magazines, school reports, and letters is known as "literary braille." There are other codes, though, that let people who are blind write just about anything, from math problems to music notes to computer notation! One More Comment About Braille People sometimes ask if it would be easier to use raised print alphabet letters, rather than dots. When you read about Louis Braille , you'll learn that raised print letters were tried in the early 1800s before he invented braille. However, these letters were very difficult to read by touch, and writing them was even more of a problem. If you ever see an experienced reader's fingers gliding rapidly across a page of braille, you will appreciate the genius of the simple six-dot system. Braille can be read and written with ease by both children and adults. It is truly an invention that is here to stay. Braille: What Is It?

What Does It Mean to the Blind? ( back )( contents ) BRAILLE--WHAT IS IT? WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO THE BLIND? Braille is a system of reading and writing by touch used by the blind. It consists of arrangements of dots which make up letters of the alphabet, numbers, and punctuation marks. The basic Braille symbol, called the Braille cell, consists of six dots arranged in the formation of a rectangle, three dots high and two across. Other symbols consist of only some of these six dots. The six dots are commonly referred to by number according to their position in the cell: There are no different symbols for capital letters in Braille. Capitalization is accomplished by placing a dot 6 in the cell just before the letter that is capitalized. The first ten letters of the alphabet are used to make numbers. These are preceded by a number sign which is dots 3-4-5-6: Thus, 1 is number sign a; 2 is number sign b; 10 is number sign a-j and 193 is number sign a-i-c: Some abbreviations are used in standard American Braille in order to reduce its bulk.

These must be memorized, but most Braille readers and writers find them convenient, rather than a problem. Braille is written on heavy paper, and the raised dots prevent the pages from lying smoothly together as they would in a print book. Therefore, Braille books are quite bulky. Today there are three methods of writing Braille, just as there are two methods of writing print. A Braille writing machine (comparable to a typewriter) has a keyboard of only six keys and a space bar, instead of one key for each letter of the alphabet. These keys can be pushed separately or altogether. If they are all pushed at the same time, they will cause six dots to be raised on the paper in the formation of a Braille cell. Pushing various combinations of the keys on the Braille writer produces different letters of the alphabet and other Braille symbols. Writing Braille with a slate and stylus compares to writing print with a pen or pencil. The stylus is used to push dots down through the paper, while the slate serves as a guide. The Braille slate can be made of metal or plastic and is hinged so that there is a guide under the paper as well as on top of it.

A person writing Braille with the slate and stylus begins at the right side of the paper and ends the line on the left, since the dots are being produced on the underside of the paper. Of course, the Braille reader reads from left to right, for the dots are then on the top side of the paper. Although this may seem a bit confusing, it need not be at all troublesome, since both reading and writing progress through words and sentences from beginning to end in the same manner. The speed of writing Braille with the slate and stylus is about the same as the speed of writing print with pen or pencil. Just as the personal computer has revolutionized writing in print today, it is also possible to produce Braille more easily and quickly than ever before. Assuming that the proper equipment is available, a computer user can now send a document to a standard printer to produce a paper copy in print or to a Braille embosser to produce the document in Braille. And one need not even know Braille to create this miracle. Braille was first developed in the late 1820's by a young Frenchman named Louis Braille. He created Braille by modifying a system of night writing which was intended for military use.

He did this work as a very young man and had it complete by the time he was about eighteen. He and his friends at the school for the blind found that reading and writing dots was much faster than reading raised print letters, which could not be written by hand at all. The development of this system by young Louis Braille is now recognized as the most important single development in making it possible for the blind to get a good education. It took more than a century, however, before people would accept Braille as an excellent way for the blind to read and write. Even today many people underestimate the effectiveness of Braille. While tapes and records are enjoyable, Braille is essential for note-taking and helpful for studying such things as math, spelling, and foreign languages. It is a matter of great concern to members of the National Federation of the Blind that fewer blind people now have the opportunity to become good Braille users than did twenty-five years ago. Why is this? Many professionals in work with the blind stress recorded media with blind children. Many people who become blind do so in old age and are not encouraged to spend the time and make the effort needed to develop the new reading and writing skills that depend on feeling rather than seeing.

There are even Braille teachers who do not expect speed and accuracy of their blind students. As a result, the students learn Braille as a chore and a drudgery. Experienced Braille readers, however, read Braille at speeds comparable to print readers-200 to 400 words a minute. Such Braille readers say that the only limitation of Braille is that there isn't enough material available. They want more books produced by Braille presses, more books produced by volunteer Braillists in their homes, and wider availability of computerized Braille production. One of the goals of the National Federation of the Blind is to help people appreciate Braille for the efficient system it is. The main difference between print and Braille is simply that print is meant to be read with the eyes, while Braille is meant to be read with the fingertips. Fingers feel dots quickly and accurately; eyes see loops and lines of ink. In both cases it is the brain that processes and reacts to the raw data sent to it by the fingers or the eyes. This article was first written in Braille and transcribed into print to answer the questions of sighted people who cannot read Braille.

If you have further questions about Braille or blindness, write to the National Federation of the Blind, 1800 Johnson Street, Baltimore, Maryland 21230. Braille | writing system | Britannica.com writing system cryptology Braille, universally accepted system of writing used by and for blind persons and consisting of a code of 63 characters, each made up of one to six raised dots arranged in a six-position matrix or cell. These Braille characters are embossed in lines on paper and read by passing the fingers lightly over the manuscript. Louis Braille , who was blinded at the age of three, invented the system in 1824 while a student at the Institution Nationale des Jeunes Aveugles (National Institute for Blind Children), Paris . Reading Braille. Comstock/Thinkstock The Frenchman Valentin Haüy was the first person to emboss paper as a means of reading for the blind. His printing of normal letters in relief led others to devise simplified versions; but, with one exception, they are no longer in use.

The single exception is Moon type , invented in 1845 by William Moon of Brighton, England, which partly retains the outlines of the Roman letters and is easily learned by those who have become blind in later life. Books in this type are still in limited use by elderly people, particularly in Great Britain. When Louis Braille entered the school for the blind in Paris, in 1819, he learned of a system of tangible writing using dots, invented in 1819 by Capt. Charles Barbier, a French army officer. It was called night writing and was intended for night-time battlefield communications. In 1824, when he was only 15 years old, Braille developed a six-dot “cell” system. He used Barbier’s system as a starting point and cut its 12-dot configuration in half. The system was first published in 1829; a more complete elaboration appeared in 1837. To aid in identifying the 63 different dot patterns, or characters, that are possible within the six-dot cell, Braille numbered the dot positions 1–2–3 downward on the left and 4–5–6 downward on the right.

The first 10 letters of the Latin alphabet —a through j—are formed with dots 1, 2, 4, and 5. When preceded by the numeric indicator (dots 3, 4, 5, and 6), these signs have number values. The letters k through t are formed by adding dot 3 to the signs that represent a through j. Five of the remaining letters of the alphabet and five very common words are formed by adding dots 3 and 6 to the signs representing a through j. When dot 6 is added to the first 10 letters, the letter w and 9 common letter combinations are formed. Punctuation marks and two additional common letter combinations are made by placing the signs that represent letters a through j in dot positions 2, 3, 5, and 6. Three final letter combinations as well as the numeric indicator and two more punctuation marks are formed with various combinations of dots 3, 4, 5, and 6. Seven additional dot patterns are formed by dots 4, 5, and 6; some represent attributes such as capital letters or italics, while others are unique to Braille’s cell-based structure.

Like the numeric indicator, these signs serve as modifiers when placed before any of the other signs. Through the application of this principle, the various signs can function in multiple ways. For example, dot 5 added before the sign for the letter d forms the Braille contraction for “day.” Braille characters. This illustration shows the formation of each six-dot cell and its simplest … Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. Quoc-ngu Braille’s system was immediately accepted and used by his fellow students, but wider acceptance was slow in coming. The system was not officially adopted by the school in Paris until 1854, two years after Braille’s death. A universal Braille code for the English-speaking world was not adopted until 1932, when representatives from agencies for the blind in Great Britain and the United States met in London and agreed upon a system known as Standard English Braille, grade 2. In 1957 Anglo-American experts again met in London to further improve the system. A girl reading the Braille edition of a Harry Potter book in the library of a school for the blind.

AP CNIB - About the Braille System About the Braille System Page Content About the Braille System Braille is a tactile system of raised dots representing letters of the alphabet. To read braille, the fingers gently glide over paper that has been embossed with the braille code. For note taking, a pointed instrument is used to punch out the dots on paper held in a metal slate. The readable raised dots appear on the other side of the paper. History Braille has been an effective means of communication for people who are blind since 1829 when it was invented in Paris, France by Louis Braille. Louis Braille lost his sight at the age of three as a result of an eye injury. As a young boy at school, he became frustrated with the large and bulky raised letter alphabet used to learn reading and writing skills. Later in his life, a French artillery officer, Charles Barbier de la Serre, gave him the idea of reading by a tactile code. After many years of experimenting, Louis Braille developed a successful reading and writing system that today is used around the world. The Braille System The basis of the braille system is known as a braille cell.

The cell is comprised of six dots numbered in a specific order. Each dot or combination of dots represents a letter of the alphabet. For example, by checking in the braille alphabet, you will see that dot 1 is the letter "a" and dots 1 and 2 the letter "b". Braille Alphabet Braille Numbers and Symbols Numbers and punctuation signs are also represented in braille. By looking at the chart below, you will see that braille numbers are announced by a sign using dots 3, 4, 5, and 6. The use of dot 6 just before a letter indicates a capital. Reading Exercise Try and read the following phrase adapted from the novel The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. Contracted Braille The phrase you just read is in Grade 1 elementary braille. Just as sighted people invented shorthand, people with vision loss use a contracted version of braille which is space saving and allows for more rapid reading and writing. The next sequence is the contracted version of the first half of the braille phrase you just read.

The Importance of Braille Braille is to the person with vision loss what the printed word is to the sighted individual - access to information and contact with the outside world. It is the building block for language skills, a means to teach spelling to children with vision loss, and the most direct contact with the written thoughts of others. Braille books are available in all subject areas, ranging from modern fiction to mathematics, music and law. As with print, braille is used for taking notes and labeling objects. Braille-adapted devices such as watches, games, playing cards and thermometers are examples of some of the practical and recreational uses of braille. Learning Braille Like any new "language", braille takes time and practice to learn. Braille is taught to persons with vision loss as part of CNIB's adjustment to vision loss program. It is also taught in schools within the community. Sighted volunteers transcribe the original printed text into braille. It takes eight months of training before volunteers become certified CNIB braillists. The rigorous training program conforms to standards set in cooperation with the Braille Authority of North America . Further training is required before brailling educational material for students or specializing in transcribing music into braille.

Braille is produced in a number of ways. It can be transcribed from the original printed text on a machine that resembles a typewriter. The braille writer has six keys which correspond to the six dots of the braille cell. Computers are also used to transcribe and reproduce braille texts. The electronic revolution is changing the way braille is produced, stored and retrieved, making it easier to use in the work place. Braille Search Braille Braille is writing system which enables blind and partially sighted people to read through touch. It was invented by Louis Braille (1809-1852), who became blind in a childhood accident and later became a teacher of the blind. Braille consists of patterns of raised dots arranged in cells of up to six dots in a 3 x 2 configuration. Each cell represents a letter, numeral or punctuation mark. Some frequently used words and letter combinations also have their own single cell patterns. It was based on a tactile military code developed by Charles Barbier known as night writing or sonography. There are a number of different versions of Braille: Uncontracted or Grade 1, which consists of the 26 standard letters of the alphabet and punctuation.

It is only used by people who are first starting to read Braille. Contracted or Grade 2, which consists of the 26 standard letters of the alphabet, punctuation and contractions. The contractions are employed to save space because a Braille page cannot fit as much text as a standard printed page. Books, signs in public places, menus, and most other Braille materials are written in Contracted Braille. Grade 3, which is used mainly in personal letters, diaries, and notes, and also in literature to a limited extent. It is a kind of shorthand, with entire words shortened to a few letters. There is no official standard for this version of Braille. Braille has been adapted to write many different languages, including Chinese , and is also used for musical and mathematical notation, chess, computing, science Braille alphabet These letters are arranged to show how they are related: the middle row is the same as the top row with an extra dot in the bottom left corner. The bottom row is the same as the middle row with extra dot in the bottom right corner. W was an afterthought and doesn't fit this scheme, as Braille was invented for French and W is rarely used in French.

Contractions and abbreviations Size and Spacing of Braille Characters Size and Spacing of Braille Characters Braille is a system of touch reading and writing used by blind persons. Embossed dots are evenly arranged in quadrangular letter spaces, called cells. A full cell is three dots high and two dots wide. Each cell may contain up to six dots. Only 63 different characters can be formed. Braille is a fixed-width font meaning that every character occupies the same amount of space, regardless of how many dots are in the cell. For braille to be read by a blind person, the dots of each cell must be easily discernible by touch and the height of the dots must be sufficient to be easily distinguished from the background. Standards for Braille Embossed on Paper Every major braille-producing country has standards for the size and spacing of braille embossed on paper. In the United States and Canada, the de facto standard is the values put forth in Specification 800, "Braille Books and Pamphlets," from the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped of the Library of Congress.

Section 3.2 of Specification 800 (Braille Books and Pamphlets) February 2008 reads as follows: Size and Spacing 3.2.1 The nominal height of braille dots shall be 0.019 inches [0.48 mm] and shall be uniform within any given transcription. 3.2.2 The nominal base diameter of braille dots shall be 0.057 inches [1.44 mm]. 3.2.3 Cell spacing of dots shall conform to the following: 3.2.3.1 The nominal distance from center to center of adjacent dots (horizontally or vertically, but not diagonally) in the same cell shall be 0.092 inches [2.340 mm]. 3.2.3.2 The nominal distance from center to center of corresponding dots in adjacent cells shall be 0.245 inches [6.2 mm]. 3.2.4 The nominal line spacing of braille cells from center to center of nearest corresponding dots in adjacent lines shall be 0.400 inches [1.000 cm].

Standards for Braille Signage The standards for creating braille suitable for signage have evolved away from those for paper. There is no one "standard" for braille on signage. Many states have created their own specifications as part of their state building codes; and, while braille size and spacing requirements are part of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), updated standards, based on the International Building Code, have been in process for nearly fifteen years. More detail on the most common standards and their origins is provided below. The U.S. Access Board is responsible for developing guidelines for the implementation of the ADA. The first Americans with Disabilities Act Accessibility Guidelines (ADAAG) were published in 1991. In Section 4.30.4 of this document, the parameters for the size and spacing of braille characters, even though they were being applied to braille signage, were exactly the same as those from the Library of Congress for braille embossed on paper. Updated guidelines, called the ABA and ADA Accessibility Guidelines, were published by the Access Board in 2004 and the specifications for braille sizing and spacing were changed significantly.

The dimensions required in section 703.3.1 of the new document are exactly the same as those found in ANSI's International Building Code. These are also the first guidelines from the Access Board that specifies that dots should be "domed". To become legal requirements, the guidelines from the Access Board must be approved by the Department of Justice; and these new guidelines, issued in 2004, have not been approved. As of August 2009, the original ADAAG still stands as the enforceable requirements for much of the country. Individual states have the right to determine their own laws on subjects not specifically mandated by the federal government and may also exceed federal mandates where they exist. State regulations regarding the ADA must be approved by the Justice Department and must meet at least the minimum standard of the federal mandate. Because the 2004 guidelines are still not approved, the last federal ADA mandates date to 1991, so many states have established or updated their regulations in the interim. The earliest state to establish its own braille standards was California.

Recognizing that existing standards were based on the optimal character size and spacing for braille material embossed on paper, California, when including braille specifications in its state building code for signage, created what is known today as "California Braille". In 1980, the California legislature passed a resolution requiring "that all designers and manufacturers of Braille tactile signage that contract with the State of California shall comply with the California Building Code when designing, developing, manufacturing, or implementing Braille tactile signage". Section 1117b.5.6 of the California Code of Regulations, Title 24, the California Building Standards Code is as follows: 1117B.5.6 Braille. Contracted Grade 2 Braille shall be used wherever Braille is required in other portions of these standards. Dots shall be 1/10 inch (2.54 mm) on centers in each cell with 2/10-inch (5.08 mm) space between cells, measured from the second column of dots in the first cell to the first column of dots in the second cell.

Dots shall be raised a minimum of 1/40 inch (0.635 mm) above the background. Braille dots shall be domed or rounded. In the California standard, the parameters of the dot size and spacing are much greater than that of dots on paper. A requirement for rounded dots was included in these requirements in an effort to reduce vandalism and improve readability. In 1998 and updated in 2003, the American National Standards Institute put forth similar standards in "American National Standard: Accessible and Usable Buildings and Facilities: 2003: Standard and Commentary". Again, the dimensions for braille characters intended for braille on signs are much larger than typically used for braille on paper but in these standards, a range of measurements is specified rather than a specific value. Chapter 7: Communication Elements and Features includes items for communicating information to persons with hearing and visual impairments. Section 703 details standards for signage and 703.4 discusses braille in general and 703.4-3 details specifications for braille. 703.4-3 Dimensions What is Braille? - American Foundation for the Blind What Is Braille?

What Is Braille? Braille is a system of raised dots that can be read with the fingers by people who are blind or who have low vision. Teachers, parents, and others who are not visually impaired ordinarily read braille with their eyes. Braille is not a language. Rather, it is a code by which many languages—such as English, Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, and dozens of others—may be written and read. Braille is used by thousands of people all over the world in their native languages, and provides a means of literacy for all. The specific code used in the United States has been English Braille, American Edition but as of 2016 the main code for reading material is Unified English Braille, a code used in seven other English-speaking countries. What Does Braille Look Like? Braille symbols are formed within units of space known as braille cells. A full braille cell consists of six raised dots arranged in two parallel rows each having three dots. The dot positions are identified by numbers from one through six. Sixty-four combinations are possible using one or more of these six dots. A single cell can be used to represent an alphabet letter, number, punctuation mark, or even a whole word.

This braille alphabet and numbers page illustrates what a cell looks like and how each dot is numbered. How Was Braille Invented? Louis Braille was born in Coupvray, France, on January 4, 1809. He attended the National Institute for Blind Youth in Paris, France, as a student. At that time, books were created using raised print which was laborious to produce, hard to read, and difficult for individuals to write. While attending the Institute, Braille yearned for more books to read. He experimented with ways to create an alphabet that was easy to read with the fingertips. The writing system he invented, at age fifteen, evolved from the tactile "Ecriture Nocturne" (night writing) code invented by Charles Barbier for sending military messages that could be read on the battlefield at night, without light. Learn more about the creation of the braille code by exploring AFB's Louis Braille Online Museum . How Is Braille Written? When every letter of every word is expressed in braille, it is referred to as uncontracted braille. Some books for young children are written in uncontracted braille although it is less widely used for reading material meant for adults.

However, many newly blinded adults find uncontracted braille useful for labeling personal or kitchen items when they are first learning braille. The standard system used for reproducing most textbooks and publications is known as contracted braille. In this system cells are used individually or in combination with others to form a variety of contractions or whole words. For example, in uncontracted braille the phrase you like him requires twelve cell spaces. It would look like this: you like him If written in contracted braille, this same phrase would take only six cell spaces to write. This is because the letters y and l are also used for the whole words you and like respectively. Likewise, the word him is formed by combining the letters h and m. It would look like this: you like him There are 180 different letter contractions used in contracted braille (including 75 shortform words like "him" shown above, which are simple abbreviations). These "short cuts" are used to reduce the volume of paper needed for reproducing books in braille and to make the reading process easier.

Most children learn contracted braille from kindergarten on, and contracted braille is considered the standard in the United States, used on signs in public places and in general reading material. Just as printed matter can be produced with a paper and pencil, typewriter, or printer, braille can also be written in several ways. The braille equivalent of paper and pencil is the slate and stylus. This consists of a slate or template with evenly spaced depressions for the dots of braille cells, and a stylus for creating the individual braille dots. With paper placed in the slate, tactile dots are made by pushing the pointed end of the stylus into the paper over the depressions. The paper bulges on its reverse side forming dots. Because of they are inexpensive and portable, the slate and stylus are especially helpful for carrying to jot quick notes and for labeling such things as file folders. Braille is also produced by a machine known as a braillewriter. Unlike a typewriter which has more than fifty keys, the braillewriter has only six keys, a space bar, a line spacer, and a backspace. The six main keys are numbered to correspond with the six dots of a braille cell.

Because most braille symbols contain more than a single dot, combinations of the braillewriter keys can be pushed at the same time. Technological developments in the computer industry have provided and continue to expand additional avenues of literacy for braille users. Software programs and portable electronic braille devices allow users to save and edit their writing, have it displayed back to them either verbally or tactually, and produce a hard copy via a desktop computer-driven braille embosser . Because the use of computers is so common in school, children learn both the braille contractions and also how to spell words out letter for letter so they can spell and write using a keyboard. Since its development in France by Louis Braille in the latter part of the nineteenth century, braille has become not only an effective means of communication, but also an essential avenue for achieving and enhancing literacy for people who are blind or have significant vision loss. Braille is here to stay!

Related Links Braille Dots and Cells - How Braille Works | HowStuffWorks Braille Dots and Cells Prev Next An example of the cells used in night writing In 1828, Charles Barbier, a visitor to Royal Institution for Blind Youth, introduced Louis Braille to a tactile dot code known as night writing. Barbier had invented the code to allow soldiers to communicate with one another in the dark, but his idea hadn't caught on. It used dots to represent 36 phonetic sounds rather than the letters of the alphabet. Some of its characters were six dots tall. Louis Braille realized that the same basic idea could give blind people an efficient method for reading and writing. Through trial and error, he figured out that a six-dot cell was small enough to fit under a fingertip but had enough possible dot combinations to represent a wide range of letters and symbols. He used this cell to create an alphabet using tactile dots and dashes. Up Next Mnemonics Neatly Eliminate Man’s Only Nemesis — Insufficient Cerebral Storage: Mnemonics Quiz A Braille cell has six dots. The Braille cells used today are two dots wide and three dots tall, and they no longer use dashes.

You can represent each dot's position within the cell with a number. Dots one, two and three are on the left side of the cell, and dots four, five and six are on the right side. A cell with one dot in position six indicates that the next cell represents a capital letter, and a cell marked with dots three through six signifies that the next cell represents a number. The Braille characters for the numbers zero through nine are the same as for the letters "a" through "j." A typical line of Braille is about 40 characters long, and a typical page of Braille is about 25 lines long. In other words, Braille takes up significantly more room than standard-sized print. Braille pages are also thicker and heavier than ordinary paper, and they have to be bound in a loose format so that pages can lie flat and people can reach the cells near the book's binding. This leads to relatively bulky books. For example, the Braille version of "Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince" is eight volumes long. Its longer predecessor, "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix," is fourteen volumes long.

To conserve space and make the reading process a little faster, many people learn to read contracted Braille, previously known as Grade 2 Braille. Uncontracted Braille, or Grade 1 Braille, uses characters to represent single letters, numbers and symbols. Contracted Braille uses characters to represent letter combinations or whole words. There are close to 200 contractions in the American version of English Braille. These include commonly-used words like "and," "you" and "for" as well as letter combinations like "ing" and "ed." Examples of whole- and part-word contractions in English Braille, American Edition There are opposing theories about whether it is better for a person to learn contracted or uncontracted Braille. Some educators argue that uncontracted Braille is an important foundation for learning contracted Braille. In addition, learning characters for individual letters and symbols may be easier for young children who are beginning to learn to read. Opponents argue that uncontracted Braille is more time- and space-consuming than contracted Braille and that teaching the contracted version first requires people to learn two codes. We'll look at the process of learning to read and write Braille in more detail in the next section.

Braille and the Brain Functional MRI (fMRI) studies show that the visual cortex in blind people becomes active while reading Braille. There are two main theories about why this happens. One is that the brain begins using the visual cortex for other purposes after a person loses his sight . The other is that the visual cortex is really a holding area for information that the language processing centers are going to use. That means that the visual cortex is important to processing all words, whether they are in print or in Braille.

Question: How many dots are used to make up each letter in the Braille system?
Answer: 6